April Update

(actual photo of Easy Company)

Band of Brothers (2001) -

words cannot describe how amazing this HBO mini-series was… i have needed to watch this show for the longest time. everyone that’s seen it loved it , and highly recommended it. so, i borrowed a bootleg copy of the series and devoured it within a few busy days. on my day off on friday for easter (and lack of work), i watched for six straight hours, or half the entire series. was too busy on saturday. spent about 3 hours watching on easter sunday. and then the final episode last nite, almost immediately after i got home from work.

i have a special place in my heart for westerns and war films. they definitely belong in a category of their own, even if they are dramas, comedies or action movies. there’s something about recreating the past and eras of conflict, from scenery to accents and dialogue, that i really appreciate. band of brothers does not disappoint here.

the show is based on the true story of Easy Company of the 506^th regiment of the 101^st airborne division. basically, these guys were paratroopers and were some of the best trained men in the military. they had to fly over and parachute down into the midst of d-day, where they were surrounded by enemies. the stories are amazing. the series begins with basic training, but very soon after, they’re fighting during d-day, involved in some of the more important skirmishes in europe, some of the first soldiers to discover the nazi concentration camps, and were the first to reach Hitler’s fabled Eagle’s Nest. the episode with the camp was probably one of the toughest things i have ever had to watch.

the acting is also superb. ive seen some of the actors before, although if i had seen this in 2001, theyd be pretty new to me. damian lewis from Life (2009, tv show) plays captain winters, who is sort of the overall leader of the company. he’s great in his role as a soldier who leads but seldom actually fights. ron livingston from Office Space is pretty great too. and even david schwimmer puts in a pretty good performance as a douchebag officer that the soldiers despise.

all in all, this show is a “must watch”. get a hold of it however you can. even though ive seen this, i’m going to buy this on blu-ray the next time there’s a deal.

great: everything about band of brothers

bad: only 10 episodes

excited for: The Pacific, same producers, about marines on the pacific front

MTG: Worldwake -

if you don’t care for magic:the gathering, SKIP THIS SECTION. i’ll try to keep it short.

worldwake(wwk) is pretty good. i really enjoyed zendikar which brought me back into the game. its landfall mechanics really made what used to be sort of a boring part of the game (playing and tapping lands for mana) pretty exciting, even in games that take a really long time. even if you drew a land but didn’t really need any extra resources, you could still trigger landfall abilities on your other cards; preserving the value of lands which could be just as valuable as drawing a spell.

wwk continues in the same vein with more advanced applications to landfall. zendikar introduced the mechanic as a booster for the power/toughness of creatures when lands came into play. whereas wwk allows for other types of cards to be affected by landfall. all in all, those new landfall cards are not as good as before. however, wwk does continue to pump out a few more creatures with landfall abilities that can be pretty useful, especially in a limited format.

the new jace (pictured above) is pretty awesome. for one extra colorless mana, his abilities are far better than old jace. he can even protect himself with an unsummon ability. this jace is far more useful in a variety of ways. deck manipulation, card drawing, unsummoning threats, unsummoning own utility creatures, and an ultimate ability that is pretty much GAME OVER for your opponent. unfortunately, jund is still a powerhouse so jace wont see too much play until the Alara block falls out of standard. i predict many more copies of jace at tournaments after the release of Scars of Mirrordin around autumn.

dual colored manlands are pretty sweet. they can color fix and they give an extra option for land use in the late game. those pesky extra resources…

overall, wwk is pretty good. it slows down a limited environment that was dominated by one and two-drops from zendikar and control is a viable strategy if drafted properly. its not always a race to kill the other player anymore, and that can only be a good thing.

good: jace, manlands, control is inching back

bad: jund and cascade mechanic still too powerful

Borderlands (PC, PS3, 360) –

to quote rac… “Borderlands makes you feel like a badass.” i completely agree with that statement.

borderlands is a first-person shooter with RPG elements (sort of like… counterstrike meets diablo) from 2K games, developed by gearbox. you take on quests, kill shit, gain experience and skills, get money, and get awesome gear and loot (lewt). that’s it. it sounds like its pretty simple and probably not fun. but damn, if you’ve ever played diablo2 or even pokemon, then you know how addictive it is to collect things you don’t need until you find something so awesome that it comes with a new pair of pants.

there’s four different character classes: soldier (support + healer), hunter (distance damage), siren (elemental + short-range), and beserker (tank, huge weapon specialist). pick the type of class you like and go crazy.

the story in borderlands kind of sucks. there’s a mysterious vault that everyone is looking for… that’s about it. story aside… the game is fuckin great. the graphics look amazing, cel-shading makes everything look like something out of a sweet comic book. the character designs are great. and the game generally runs pretty well even on my crappy machine, although with the settings pretty low.

and the best part? you run around and just kill EVERYONE. you get to kill kamikaze psychotics. armored knight lookin dudes with machine guns. and midgets!!! there’s nothing that feels better than lighting a crazy squealing midget aflame with a fire elemental pistol. or shooting a huge brute in the head with a sniper rifle and seeing their body exploding into a hundred bloody pieces. i didn’t need a story anyways…

good: over the top badass-ery, beautiful looking game, addictive loot drops

bad: difficult to solo sometimes, story sucks so much